The Yuzuki Yukari Racing Project Goes into High Gear!

On October 27th, racer Takahiro Watanabe started the “Yuzuki Yukari Racing Project” crowdfunding page on “READY FOR?”, Japan’s largest crowdfunding site. Its initial goal was to raise ￥2,000,000 JPY in order to create official “Yuzuki Yukari Racing Version” merchandise, whose sales would fund spot advertisement for the Yuzuki Yukari itasha, which Watanabe hopes to drive in the 2017 Super Taikyu endurance racing season.

However, just four days after opening the crowdfunding campaign, it had already reached its ￥2,000,000 JPY goal, even before the first piece of racing Yukari merchandise headed out the factory door! Ecstatic by this turn of events, Watanabe first graciously thanked all of the supporters who helped him realize his goal so quickly, and then announced a second stretch goal for the campaign. In order to fully fund the Yuzuki Yukari itasha‘s participation in the Super Taikyu, ￥6,000,000 JPY will be needed. If this second goal is reached, then the project will not need to rely on sales of the Yuzuki Yukari Racing Version’s merchandise in order to get Yukari’s itasha on the racetrack, but Watanabe promised eager fans that those goods will still be made regardless. Furthermore, as a token of gratitude, Watanabe will be sending a 10 cm-large “Thanks for the early support” sticker to every person who donated thus far, regardless of the amount donated.

It was also reported on the VOCALOMAKETS blog that the Yuzuki Yukari itasha was on display at VOCACON 2016, the voice synthesizer fan convention that VNN previously reported on. Fans in attendance were the first to catch a glimpse of the car in person, before it gets to rev its engines next year.

What is the Yuzuki Yukari Racing Project?

The project began as a one-man endeavor by racer and MikuMikuDance user, Takahiro Watanabe (a.k.a. MazodoraP), to enter the racing season in a race car bearing a Future GPX Cyber Formula anime car wrapping, and feature grid girls cosplaying as characters from the anime series at his pit. However, the 2014 season came to an end with Watanabe exiting the racing scene for quite a while.

But thanks to all the advice and encouragement that he has received since then, Watanabe was determined to re-enter the racing scene and restart the project with a brand new racing team, made entirely up of members whom he has come to know through his activities involving Yuzuki Yukari. Thus, the Yuzuki Yukari Racing Project was born and has received official backing from AH-Software. Watanabe’s vision is to not only introduce racing fans to Yukari, but also spread the appeal and enjoyment of motorsports to fans of anime and VOCALOID alike by racing in a Yuzuki Yukari itasha.

To help bring this vision to life, well-known light novel artist and Yukari’s official illustrator, Juu Ayakura (a.k.a. Haino) was commissioned to design and draw the official “Yuzuki Yukari Racing Version.” Numerous goods and merchandise are planned to be made based off of the new design, with proceeds from sales being used to fund the Yuzuki Yukari itasha’s participation in the Super Taikyu endurance race. To this end, the crowdfunding page was opened to help cover the production cost of the Yuzuki Yukari Racing Version goods and merchandise, as well as further support the itasha’s future appearance in races.

The project plans to create about ten different promotional items to display at the circuit site of each race (such as the Yukari banner, pictured above), as well as 15 different types of collector’s items for fans to purchase and own. Furthermore, those who donate on the crowdfunding page will receive special reward items depending on how much they donate (note that ￥1 JPY ≈ $0.01 USD):

Those who donate at least ￥3,000 JPY will receive:
・A plastic Yuzuki Yukari Racing supporter’s ID card with your own personal serial number

Those who donate at least ￥5,000 JPY will receive:
・All previously mentioned rewards
・A READY FOR-exclusive Yuzuki Yukari key holder

Those who donate at least ￥10,000 JPY will receive:
・All previously mentioned rewards
・A Yuzuki Yukari Racing on-site project report (booklet and DVD)

Those who donate at least ￥50,000 JPY will receive:
・All previously mentioned rewards
・The chance to have a 15×10 cm sticker of your choice placed on the Yuzuki Yukari itasha for one race in the Super Taikyu (the sticker’s design and which race it will appear in must be agreed upon)
※Note: Limited to 30 individuals (29 remaining at the time of this writing)

Those who donate at least ￥150,000 JPY will receive:
・All previously mentioned rewards
・The chance to have a 15×10 cm sticker of your choice placed on the Yuzuki Yukari itasha for every race in the Super Taikyu over the next year (the sticker’s design must be agreed upon)
※Note: Limited to 5 individuals (2 remaining at the time of this writing)

Those who donate at least ￥200,000 JPY will receive:
・The ID card
・The key holder
・The project report
・One race invitation with all lodging and travel expenses paid for (you can freely choose which race to attend)
※Note: Limited to 10 individuals (10 remaining at the time of this writing)

Those who donate at least ￥200,000 JPY will also have the choice of:
・The ID card
・The key holder
・The project report
・One official Yuzuki Yukari bicycle + goods set
※Note: Limited to 1 individual (none remaining at the time of this writing)

Those who donate at least ￥600,000 JPY will receive:
・The ID card
・The key holder
・The project report
・The chance to have a 50×50 cm sticker of your choice placed on the Yuzuki Yukari itasha for every race in the Super Taikyu over the next year (the sticker’s design must be agreed upon)
※Note: Limited to 2 individuals (1 remaining at the time of this writing)

Those who donate at least ￥1,000,000 JPY will receive:
・The ID card
・The key holder
・The project report
・The chance for your name or nickname (5 to 7 characters long) to be added to the Yukari Racing team’s list of entry names, 1 person per race
※Note: Limited to 6 individuals (6 remaining at the time of this writing)

Once they have selected their choice of rewards, donors can expect them to ship sometime during February 2017. At the time of this article’s writing, the crowdfunding project has 69 days remaining.

You can visit the Yuzuki Yukari Racing Project crowdfunding page here (Japanese) for updates, or stay tuned to VNN!

You can also follow Takahiro Watanabe on Twitter, as well as visit MazodoraP’s Niconico channel. Juu Ayakura can also be followed on their official Twitter account or home page.

Yuzuki Yukari Racing Project Crowdfunding
Yuzuki Yukari Racing Project Official Facebook
Yuzuki Yukari Racing Project Official Twitter